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MEMOIR 



OF 



EDWARD GRIFFIN PORTER 



BY 



SAMUEL SWETT GREEN 





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MEMOIR 



OF 



EDWARD GRIFFIN PORTER 



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BY / 

SAMUEL SWETT GREEN 



REPRINTED FROM 

THE PUBLICATIONS 

OF 

€l)f Colonial J^ocift^ of ^afi;gacl)u0ftt0 

Vol. VL 



CAMBRIDGE 

JOHN WILSON AND SON 

©nibrrsitg }^xtss 
1901 



MEMOIR 



OF THE 

REV. EDWARD GRIFFIN PORTER, 

BY 

SAMUEL SWETT GREEN. 



Edward Griffin Porter was born in Boston, 24 January, 
1837. He was the son of Royal Loomis Porter, editor and pro- 
prietor of the Boston Traveller, a newspaper which he started in 
1825. Mr. Royal Porter died in Charleston, South Carolina, where 
he had gone for the benefit of his health, in 1844. Edward Porter's 
mother was Sarah Ann Pratt, who was born in Charlestown, Mas- 
sachusetts, in 1812, and is still living. 

In 1623, John Porter came from the West of England to Plym- 
outh, in the Colony of that name. Branches of the family after- 
wards settled in Farmington and Hartford, Connecticut, and in 
Danvers and Hadley, Massachusetts. Edward Porter was de- 
scended, in the sixth generation, from the first settler in East 
Hartford, Connecticut. A son of the first settler there was James 
Porter, born in 1720. His son, James, was born in 1745. James's 
son, Daniel, was born in East Hartford in 1776, but after the war 
moved to Williamstown, Massachusetts. He had a son, Royal 
Loomis, born in Vermont in 1801, who was the father of Edward 
Griffin Porter. 

Mr. Royal Porter was an only son. He graduated at Williams 
College in 1823 and taught school a year or two in New York 
State before removing to Boston. He is said to have edited the 
Traveller with signal ability and success, until he died. He was 
buried near his father in the old cemetery at Williamstown. 

Edward Porter lived in Boston until he was seven years old ; 
his father then moved to Canton, Massachusetts, but, dying within 
a year, the family returned to Boston. Mrs. Porter, left a widow 



with three children, — Frank, Edward, and William, — soon married 
Nathan Carruth, a Boston merchant. The family lived in Hancock 
Street for about two years and then moved to Dorchester, Massa- 
chusetts, where Mr. Carruth had built a large house in the gothic 
style, on an elevated spot, regarded as one of the most eligible in 
the vicinity of Boston. Edward Porter always spoke warmly of 
the never-failing kindness of his step-father. 

After attending several private and public schools, Porter, in 
1851, entered Phillips Academy, Andover, which was then under 
the charge of the celebrated educator, Samuel Harvey Taylor. 
He remained in the Academy during the usual course of prepara- 
tion for college. He graduated in the summer of 1854, after pro- 
nouncing an oration on the Genius of Labor, and left school with 
high hopes and a stout heart to enter upon college life. 

In January, 1853, Porter united, by public profession of faith, 
with the Second Cliurch in Dorchester, then under the pastoral 
care of the Rev. James H. Means. 

It had always been Porter's wish and that of his friends that he 
should go to college. In 1854, he was admitted to Williams 
College, after examination. It was by his own choice rather than 
that of his friends, who preferred he should go to Harvard College, 
that he went to Williams. He soon became disappointed with the 
educational advantages offered there and with his surroundings, 
and in the autumn of 1855, too late to have his name appear in 
the first edition of the Catalogue for that year, he transferred his 
connection to Harvard College. While at Williams College he 
joined the Alpha Delta Phi Society. In Cambridge he had only 
a few intimate friends, but tliose who knew him well were warmly 
attached to him and respected him highly. He did not attain to 
a high rank in his Class, — very likely did not seek it, — but was 
generally regarded as industrious, thoroughly in earnest, a man 
of considerable attainments and good scholarship. 

The Class of 1858 in Harvard College does not stand out con- 
spicuous by reason of a large number of its members having be- 
come famous. Still, it is pleasant to remark that nearly every 
member has done well while he lived, and many members have be- 
come eminent. Samuel Pasco was for several years a United 
States Senator from Florida, and Frederic George Bromberg, 
William Elliot, and the late William Fitzhugh Lee have repre- 



sented in Congress districts in Alabama, South Carolina, and Vir- 
ginia, respectively. Locally, the names of Winslow Warren and 
Henry Pickering Walcott will be recognized as belonging to men 
who have won distinction in public life in Massachusetts. The 
latter has also been, for several years, a Fellow of Harvard College. 
Among the teachers are Benjamin Graves Brown, Professor of 
Mathematics in Tufts College, the lately deceased Bradbury Long- 
fellow Cilley, and George Albert Wentvvorth, for many years 
instructors in the Phillips Exeter Academy, the veteran George 
Washington Copp Noble of Boston, Eugene Frederick Bliss of 
Cincinnati, Ohio, and Joseph Alden Shaw of the Highland Mili- 
tary Academy, Worcester, Massachusetts. Of the physicians, the 
names are well known of John Homans, Robert Thaxter Edes, 
John Gray Park, and George Ebenezer Francis. The Reverend 
Henry Wilder Foote, Minister of King's Chapel, Boston, was a 
member of the Class ; and among those members who became 
lawyers are Judge Alfred Stedman Hartwell of Honolulu, Ha- 
waiian Islands, Judge William Henry Fox of Taunton, Massachu- 
setts, and James Clarke Davis, of Boston. Of the representatives 
of the Class in business may be mentioned John Lowell Gard- 
ner, recently deceased, Hersey Bradford Goodwin, and the two 
Tobeys, — Gerard Curtis and Horace Pratt. Well-known Boston 
families were represented b}^ Fisher Ames, Josiah Bradlee, Louis 
Cabot, Benjamin William Crowninshield, Ozias Goodwin, Hollis 
Hunnewell, and Edward Bromfield Mason. George Edward Pond, 
who has lately died, was always an editor or editorial writer, and 
is particularly remembered by his connection with the Army and 
Navy Journal during the Civil War, The writer of this Memoir 
has helped to give completeness to the list of occupations in the 
Class by nearly thirty years' service as a librarian. 

Several members of the Class of 1858 have shown a decided 
interest in American history, and Porter was prominent among 
them. The most eminent of these is Henry Adams, known to his 
classmates by the name of Henry Brooks Adams, by which name he 
was designated in the catalogue throughout his college course. 
George Dexter, Foote, John Charles Phillips (Porter's room-mate 
in the Senior year). Porter, Robert Noxon Toppan, Walcott, and 
Warren have been or are Resident Members of the Massachusetts 
Historical Society. Adams, Bliss, Dexter, Foote, Francis, Green, 



Porter, and Toppan are the living and deceased members of the 
Class who have represented it in the American Antiquarian Society. 
Many members of the Class have belonged to other historical 
societies and served as officers in them, to say nothing of those 
who are past or present members of this Society.^ 

The Class lost some of its most promising members by early 
death, among them William Gibbons of New York City. He was 
with the Class for a few months as a Sophomore, but died in 
Cambridge in that year. The most serious losses, however, came 
through the Civil War. The time of the graduation of the Class 
was such that many members served as soldiers. Five lost their 
lives, and among them were such men of promise as James Jackson 
Lowell, Henry Lyman Patten, and Thomas Jefferson Spurr, The 
Class had representatives in both armies. A story is told of a 
meeting, during the war, of William Fitzhugh Lee, a son of Gen- 
eral Robert E. Lee, and Nicholas Longworth Anderson. They 
were Generals in the Confederate and Union armies, respectively, 
and found themselves, one night, on opposite sides of a river. 
Anderson, the story runs, sent a pleasant message to his old class- 
mate Lee, but the latter's feelings were too strong to allow him to 
reciprocate the courtesy. He sent back word that he could have 
no correspondence with a man of such objectionable principles as 
those of Anderson. The latter afterwards made his home in 
Washington. Lee's place was near that city after the war, and, as 
before stated, he was in Congress. The two old friends must have 
often laughed heartily over the above-mentioned scene when they 
renewed, as they did, their hearty friendship in the Capital of the 
country. 

Porter wrote in his college class-book, 18 May, 1858, that he was 
to sail for Europe the next day. " My present plans," he con- 
tinues, " are to travel six months in Europe with my mother, study 
during the following winter at Heidelberg, and return in 1859 to 
enter upon the study of theology." He did not return, however, 
until July, 1861. While abroad he studied at Berlin and Heidel- 
berg and paid his first visit to the East, spending much time in 
travelling in Egypt and Syria. 

In 1861, Porter took the degree of Master of Arts. In Septem- 

* Messrs. Louis Cabot, Samuel Swett Green, Edward Griffin Porter, and 
Robert Xoxon Toppan. 



ber of the same year, he entered the Andover Theological Semi- 
nary, and graduated from it in August, 1864. The writer of this 
Memoir remembers spending a pleasant day with him at Andover 
while he was in the Seminary. He took me on a delightful walk 
in the woods, allowed me to accompany him to a lecture by the 
celebrated Dr. Edwards Amasa Park, and in the evening escorted 
me to a charming reception at Abbot Academy. He had a rare 
faculty of finding out the beautiful scenery and interesting historic 
spots in every town where he stayed, became acquainted with the 
men best worth knowing, and, when long enough in a place, was 
admitted freely to its best social circles. He much enjoyed sharing 
his knowledge and privileges with a friend. 

Mr. Porter was licensed to preach b}'- the Norfolk Association, 
at Braintree, Massachusetts, 26 January, 1864. In the spring of 
the same year, while still connected with the Seminary, he went 
west in the service of the United States Sanitary Commission. 
There he contracted a fever which seriously impaired his health. 
After graduating at Andover, he remained at home in Dorchester, 
taking charge of a church during the absence of its pastor. In 
the following year he preached occasionally in various places, 
but did not feel strong enough to accept any proposals for settle- 
ment. By the advice of his ph^-sician and friends he sailed again 
for Europe, 31 May, 1866. After some time spent in England, he 
went to Switzerland and Italy. There he studied with great in- 
terest the Waldensian movement to give Protestant churches and 
schools to all the principal towns, and was almost persuaded to, 
accept the charge of the new Italian church at Venice. He 
went next to Malta, and thence to the East, where he spent the 
spring of 1867. The work of the American Mission at Beirut and 
on the slopes of Mount Lebanon engaged much of his attention. 
Afterwards, in Greece, he aided in the distribution of some -of the 
American supplies among the Cretan refugees. Returning through 
Austria and Germany, he reached Paris in time to see the close of 
the great Exhibition, and arrived in this country again in January, 
1868. He spent a short time in arranging the materials collected 
in his journey, but kept in mind the work for which he had been 
educated. 

On the first of October, 1868, INIr. Porter was ordained minister 
of the Hancock Congregational Church, a newly-formed Trinitarian 



8 

Society in Lexington, Massachusetts. He remained in that posi- 
tion for twenty-three years, and was very successful in his ministry. 
Although not regarded as a remarkable preacher, he was an admi- 
rable pastor and a public-spirited citizen. 

As we know, IMr. Porter was not unmindful of the charm of 
the society of men of high social position or of those who had be- 
come eminent professionally or in politics; yet he had a happy 
faculty', also, of becoming interested in persons in all conditions of 
life and of making everybody with whom he came in contact his 
friend. He was imiversally respected and loved by his people 
and townsmen, and he was an especial favorite with chikben. 

While in Lexington, Mr. Porter took an active interest in the 
affairs of the town. He became chairman of the School Committee 
and a trustee of the Public Library. He also served as chairman 
of a committee on the order of exercises at the celebration, in 
1875, of the one hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Lexington. 
When he resigned his charge as pastor, in 1891, his resignation 
was reluctantly accepted and he was made Pastor Emeritus of the 
church. He always retained his citizenship in Lexington. 

In 1887-88 he made another journey to the East, on that occasion 
visiting the missionary stations of the American Board in Turkey, 
Lidia, China, and Japan. He had a strong and active interest in 
foreign missions, and will be very much missed in missionary 
circles. He also had a lively interest in the East, evidenced, and 
probably partially caused, by the several visits which he made to 
that portion of the world. He seemed to me never happier or 
more at home than when, standing on a platform, with a map be- 
hind him, he explained clearl}^ and tlioroughly the political situation 
and the religious differences in such little known states as Walla- 
chia, Servia, and Moldavia, or expounded the causes and merits of 
dissensions between Mussulmans and Armenians. 

Mr. Porter's services were much in demand to serve on commit- 
tees and they were cheerfully and efficiently rendered. He held a 
large number of offices. Thus, he was a member of the Overseers' 
Committee to visit the Academical Department of Harvard College, 
and of the Boards of Visitors of Wellesley College and Bradford 
Academy. He was a Trustee of Abbot Academy, Andover, and of 
Lawrence Academy, Groton, Massachusetts. We find him helping 
the Trustees of the American College at Aintab in Asia Minor at 



the time of its establishment, and afterwards he became President 
of its Board of Trustees. 

Porter represented Massachusetts in the Historical Department 
of the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, in 1876, and was a 
delegate of the American Antiquarian Society at the meeting of the 
Royal Society of Canada held in Halifax in the spring of 1897, 
the chief object of which was to erect a monument to John Cabot. 
His interest in American history was very great, and the study and 
presentation of portions of it occupied a considerable part of his 
activities and gave a coloring to most of his literary productions. 
He was an accomplished guide in pointing out places of historical 
interest in Lexington, Boston and its neighborhood, Pljanouth, 
and other localities. His services in this capacity were regarded as 
very valuable, and were freely given when asked for. He always 
had investigations in hand. The writer of this paper remembers 
that for two or three years before his death Porter was actively 
engaged in looking up the path which in Colonial times led from 
Boston, through Worcester and other towns, to Springfield. 

In April, 1876, Mr. Porter was elected a member of the Amer- 
ican Antiquarian Society, and in 1880 a member of the Massachu- 
setts Historical Society. He was also a member of the American 
Historical Association and of other historical organizations. In 
January, 1899, he was chosen President of the New England His- 
toric Genealogical Society, and in the following summer he was 
elected to fellowship in the Harvard chapter of the Fraternity of 
Phi Beta Kappa. 

In 1887, Mr. Porter published an interesting book entitled 
Rambles in Old Boston, New England. It is a work which is much 
in demand, and has for some time been out of print. He also con- 
tributed to the third volume of the Memorial History of Boston, 
edited by Justin Winsor, the chapter on The Beginning of the 
Revolution (1760-1775). In 1875, he published an Historical 
Sketch of the Battle of Lexington, and edited the volume contain- 
ing the Proceedings of the Celebration Commemorative of the one 
hundredth anniversary of that battle. Among his occasional 
papers which have been printed are : Sermon on the death of the 
Reverend William Hooper Adams (H. C. 1860) ; Memoir of John 
Charles Phillips, prepared for the Massachusetts Historical Society ; 
an Original Document of the House of Washington (thirteenth 



10 

century) ; an Address on the Centennial of Washington's visit to 
Lexington ; an Address on Samuel Adams ; Four Drawings of 
Lexington and Concord in 1775 ; President Garfield's Ancestry ; 
The Ship Columbia and the Discovery of Oregon ; The Cabot 
Celebrations of 1897 ; Sketches of the English towns of Dor- 
chester, Ipswich, Billericay, and Bedford ; and The Aborigines of 
Australia. 

Mr. Porter died 5 February, 1900, at the home of his mother, 
Ashmont, Dorchester. Two days after, on Wednesday, 7 February, 
he was buried from the same place. A large assembly came to- 
gether to do honor to his memory. Among those present were the 
venerable Dr. Cyrus Hamlin and other clergjanen, a numerous 
delegation from his Society in Lexington, college classmates, and 
associates in historical and other societies. 

Porter died in harness. Only a few days before his death, a 
corrected proof of Remarks made by him at the meeting of the 
American Antiquarian Society held in October, 1899, was received 
by its Publishing Committee. He had agreed to make Remarks 
at tlie meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society which 
occurred a few days after his death, and had made other engage- 
ments to write or to speak. From boyhood Mr. Porter had been a 
student. His life passed smoothly. He was an industrious and 
useful man ; and, busy, loved, and respected as he was, his death 
will be widely felt, 

Mr. Porter was elected a Resident Member of this Society on 
the fifteenth of March, 1893. On the twentieth of December, fol- 
lowing, he was appointed a member of the Committee of Publica- 
tion, — a position he continued to hold until his death, and in 
which he rendered valuable service. 



SEP 9 1901 



LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 



014 076 352 4 t 



